Upgrade recommendations?

[wisa.m]

At the moment, I have a GTX 1060 (6GB) and an i5 6600K on a Z170 motherboard. I'm planning to upgrade to an RTX 3060 and a better CPU.

My questions are:

1. Does it make more sense for me to get the GPU (assuming I can get my hands on one) or the CPU first?
2. Should I get the best CPU available for my motherboard, which appears to be the i7-7700K or just upgrade my motherboard as well?

I mainly use this PC for gaming, programming and Blender, but the upgrade is mainly with gaming in mind, since my Blender projects don't tend to be too complex for my current hardware

[jaslion]

1) Cpu mostly because a quad cores don't cut it anymore. That and gpu's are just none existant

2) No. Don't get a 7700k it's beyond overpriced for what it is on the used market and I would highly advice you move to a new platform.

[NutronSe7en]

I strongly recommend that you upgrade the GPU first and then the CPU as that CPU still runs at decent speeds and can support a 3060 to most of it's full potential. Another reason I suggest this is because with the CPU upgrade you will need a platform upgrade as there is no point in only upgrading to a generation that still leaves you significantly far behind current.

[NutronSe7en]

10 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Cpu mostly because a quad cores don't cut it anymore.

That's untrue, 4 cores is still more than enough for just about every game and some background applications.

[WhitetailAni]

3 minutes ago, NutronSe7en said:

That's untrue, 4 cores is still more than enough for just about every game and some background applications.

4 cores today is for lower-end (Ryzen 3, Core i3, etc.).

If he's got a 6600K, he's going for mid-to-high end which 6 to 8 cores is better suited for.

[NutronSe7en]

2 minutes ago, ragnarok0273 said:

going for mid-to-high end which 6 to 8 cores is better suited for.

In a upgrade yes but since they already have it, the need fore more cores is unnecessary.

[wisa.m]

5 minutes ago, ragnarok0273 said:

4 cores today is for lower-end (Ryzen 3, Core i3, etc.).

If he's got a 6600K, he's going for mid-to-high end which 6 to 8 cores is better suited for.

I'm mostly just going for "better than what I have", and what I have was probably considered mid-tier back in 2016. Not sure how true that is right now since I haven't upgraded anything other than my RAM since then

[jaslion]

32 minutes ago, NutronSe7en said:

That's untrue, 4 cores is still more than enough for just about every game and some background applications.

No what you are saying is untrue 4core/4thread cpu's struggle with todays games to keep a steady framerate and not stutter. Hence why the cpu should be replaced first.

[jaslion]

29 minutes ago, ragnarok0273 said:

4 cores today is for lower-end (Ryzen 3, Core i3, etc.).

If he's got a 6600K, he's going for mid-to-high end which 6 to 8 cores is better suited for.

Yeah as those are now 4core/8thread cpu's and those are fine for now. Pure 4core/4thread cpu's struggle and stutter